


founders of folklore

by blankperiod



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe, Drama, F/M, Fairy Tale Endings, Folklore, Historical AU, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-05
Updated: 2020-12-13
Packaged: 2021-03-06 22:22:32
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,612
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26286382
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blankperiod/pseuds/blankperiod
Summary: they are born from just a single glance, falling down a dwindling mercurial high.
Relationships: Haruno Sakura/Uchiha Sasuke
Comments: 2
Kudos: 27





	1. very first song

**Author's Note:**

> before I start, I just want to remind everyone this fic is NOT historically/geographically accurate, as I have created a world mixing up many elements from different eras and canon references. 
> 
> this fic will be divided into short scenes/acts and time skips.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> a/n: before I start, I just want to remind everyone this fic is NOT historically/geographically accurate, as I have created a world mixing up many elements from different eras and canon references. this fic will be divided into short scenes/acts and time skips.

** ACT i **

**_ scene I: the witch's wink _ **

The tune of the flute weaves itself through the winds on this sweet summer dusk as he passes by the road less traveled by; the village roads as he turns his head to look for the bewitching soprano voice that carries itself to his ears. The vielle follows and so does the drums and the voice stops. Silence for a beat and then the unseen crowd begins to cheer.

Unbeknownst to him, he steers the ropes to his horse towards the enchanting voice, as if he has been cast in a magnificent spell. Sasuke follows through the crowd that seemed to have gathered for a show as he crosses an alleyway. He gets down, his first time in a village, and people around him take in the scene before them and stop. He is a knight; knights don't usually roam around villages without meaning and Sasuke knows this. Even then he couldn't stop himself from following through. As the crowd parts for him, he motions his guards to not follow. Hushed tones follow, however as soon as his eyes land at the center of attention for all these villagers he stops for a moment, mesmerized.

There she is. _That witch._

She glides along with the stone floors of the pavement as if she stands on air. Her pastel hair dances along with her, open and free yet so lustrous and glistening as the sun glows it golden. A flimsy muted linen long gown sits on her shoulders and no corset to accentuate her figure, yet she dances as beautifully as any royale. There's a subtle elegance in her movements, as she raises her bell-sleeved arms towards the sky and turns her hands bending her slender fingers eastward; only to bring them down in one swift half-circular motion, as her legs cross over and she twirls. She almost looks like a free bird, majestical and ethereal being despite her worn down appearance and possibly sore feet. Her feet bare, slender and pale clash with the stones she steps upon yet she continues, with the grace of a swan, an ever present smile on her coral lips.

She puts her left foot out as she moves outwards and then crosses her right foot over before she takes a bow. The crowd applauds and for a heartbeat, his eyes catch her viridian ones. The sun glistens on her face as the sweat accumulates on her skin but her eyes, they _sparkle_ , there are no signs of tiredness in them, instead he sees mirth, and when she smiles at him, accompanying it with a tiny _wink_ , Sasuke's neck heats up till his ears and he swiftly turns away.

**_ scene II: woven in his dreams _ **

He doesn't know her name but her vision haunts him on some nights he allows himself a wink of sleep. In his mind, she keeps dancing and there's no end, it's endless, her twirling in his mind. As if that _witch_ has woven a web so intricate in his mind tangling herself in, that even an awarded knight like him cannot forget.

_ How annoying. _

He sees her again on a particularly warm winter afternoon where she swings her way to the greenhouse beside the weaponry storage of the castle. His hands hold his _katana_ but his eyes follow her movements as she picks some purple hyacinths and some camellias. She even takes a marigold to tuck into her hair which again glistens golden with the sunlight's reflection. She smiles to herself as she waters some plants and his feet beg him to walk over the extra mile to talk to her, see her. He wants to tell her instead of marigolds, the roses would suit her more, but then shakes his head.

_ He shouldn't be thinking that. _

He turns away before she catches his eyes on her as Shisui calls out to him towards the dungeons.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tbc.
> 
> a/n: first multichapter fic. I am not sure how I am going to pull this off, because well. anyhow believe me when I say I have tried to scrape off this idea from my head for a total of 5 times at least, but this bish won't let go. I am really bad with long updates, so please don't expect that from me. This fic will be a collection of scenes, with each chapter being an act.
> 
> Thank you for reading!


	2. hues of feelings

**ACT ii**

**_scene I: feelings in blush_ **

Her feet are sore, as she inspects her gown one more time before dipping it in detergent water, in the wooden bucket. The sun burns her skin, as sweat accumulates in her forehead but the house is a mess with all the girls lining up with their forty dresses and their stockings and she just cannot stand being in a room full of girls gossiping about everything; from men to clothes.

Konoha has not been so kind to her with its weather. Even so she does enjoy the scenery it provides. Ino had once jokingly mentioned that Konoha was the place for _hot_ knights when she had arrived here a year earlier than her and Sakura had giggled after reading her letter.

The vision of the man she saw time ago plays in her mind. She had hoped to catch a glimpse of him when she had tagged along with Shizune to the only greenhouse in the city. However, to golden her bad luck; luck that somehow only favored her when it came to her forehead, she was not even able to catch a single glimpse of him!

Sakura pouts to herself, as she gets rid of the excess water from her gown. She twists and turns, and turns again, her mind still on the handsome stranger with dark locks and a built physique and thinks how good it would feel-

"Sakura! Let the dress live!" Ino calls out from the yard, hanging her own gowns on the ropes.

Sakura blushes and turns away.

**_scene II: the hues of destiny_ **

She paints the canvas in colors that are so familiar to her, the purple-pink skies, the orange-yellow daisies, and the warm tones that usually scatter her mind. Nevertheless, when she reaches for the yellow to paint the wall for the still life on her canvas, her hand stops. Sakura wonders why she suddenly feels like dipping her flat paintbrush on the dark hues of gray, the ivory at the center of her palette. She doesn't want the purples, the yellows, she wants the blues and its hues.

**_scene III: muted gossips_ **

After three weeks one humid afternoon Sakura manages to finish the golden daisies she was working on. The yellow and white flower contrasts beautifully with the blues and the greys that occupy the background. It's a different take from all her works, the blues remind her of that man, the man she dreams about on her wildest nights. She has not told a soul about her feelings, however she wants to give this man a name. A name to remember him by, _a name for the first man she ever fell for._

So she does what Ino does best, she engages in hushed gossip among the girls.

**_scene IV: that moonlit night, o' darling_ **

That day after dinner at the Iwa royal palace, Sakura roams around the carpeted hallways aimlessly, mesmerized by the expensive oil paintings that decorate the silver-grey stone walls. The moonlight bathes the ancestral portraits and they look full of life, every contour and every infinitesimal detail beautifully captured through brush strokes.

She is suddenly startled when the guards start running to the gates, as she hides behind one of the pillars. Her heart beats erratically in her chest and Sakura wonders what are the consequences of being at the wrong place at the wrong time. She dreads the scolding she might have from Tsunade, the disappointed and desperate look on Shizune's face, and the hidden smirk in Ino's face.

Nonetheless, her heart stops when she looks up, her hands clammy as she bunches up the skirt too hard in her grip, her fingernails threatening to tear the fabric when she sees _him._ That's Uchiha Sasuke, the youngest knight of the kingdom, on his ebony horse and proudly showcasing the silver breastplate with the _Uchiha_ insignia.

_Sakura has never seen a man so beautiful._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tbc
> 
> a/n: THANKYOU for all the support you all have showered me with for the first chapter ^-^


	3. aura of a classical romance

**Act iii**

_**scene I: songs of sunshine** _

A year later.

It's time for the Konoha festival. This is celebrated every year by the people of Konoha as a tribute to their liberation from the rogues of the land fifty years ago. Spring blooms in Konoha this season. It has been ten years since the civil war that broke out in the nation that was dissolved as soon as it began, and this year everybody celebrates independence and the joy of preventing another war, both children and adults. The village buzzes with whispers and criticisms of the foreigners who rest on this land to join in the festival. Elites of Uzushio, Suna, and Iwa arrive and so do the commoners and traders.

He wonders through the festival stalls in search of a dango shop and pieces of nonnative jewelry. The Queen, Mikoto has always loved jewels and hair clips brought by the Iwa merchants. He roams as he looks, no idea on where to start and what to get when his eye catches the dango shop his brother, the crowned prince, Itachi had asked him about.

Amidst the reds and yellows and the common browns and blacks, she is unmistakable with her pastel hair. He knows that's _her_ because she has that sacred aura, that glow that he hasn't seen in any other person. She sits by the stall accompanied by her friends, he assumes. He closes the distance, and her soft laughter rings in the air. His eyes follow as the sweetened syrup that coats her lips which are being licked away when she flicks out her tongue. His face burns and he turns towards the vendor as if he hadn't soaked in her presence some time ago.

He isn't even halfway through paying for the _dangos_ when she approaches him. A smile on her features and a bounce on her footsteps. She is a head shorter than him, yet she tried to lean over his shoulder to add to her fill of _dangos._

"Fancy seeing you here!" her voice is as sweet as the syrup that coats the _dangos_ inside the plastic bag and he has to try his hardest to not blush because his heart pumps its cage so _bad._ He turns, in a momentary loss if he should tell her that he remembers their first _encounter_ , if it could be even called that or if he could pretend and give her a cold look.

He does what his heart tells him to do.

"Hmm." His lips are set in a straight line.

"Not much of a conversationalist, are we?" She laughs at his expense as she orders for her next plate of _dangos._

Her laughter is warm, he notes. It's warm and lingering and it rings in his ears even after she is done. He observes her. Surely she didn't know _magic_ , did she?

"So, what do you go by, you beautiful knight?" She inquires, a cheekiness lacing her tone, and her eye crinkles as she gives him another dazzling smile.

_She was so radiant._

"I am Uchiha Sasuke." He offers, amazing himself. He has never in his life offered someone his name without getting to know theirs first. The fact that this _witch_ made him do it, made it all the more believable that she, in fact, knew _magic._

She hums as she falls step beside him as he walks away from that _dango_ shop without any invitation. He feels indebted, so he asks "What do you go by?"

"Sakura. Haruno Sakura." She replies, biting into her _dango_ , as syrup drops from her fingers. _Again,_ she licks off the syrup from her fingers as she answers to him, not caring about anything else other than the desert in her hand.

Sasuke is a little exasperated. Ladies did not eat in front of knights like this! Not without a single ounce of courtesy or false advertisements. His face heats up soon as his mind registers her fingers and her lips. He turns away after openly and tactlessly gawking at her for a few moments only for her to finish her business a few moments after and with big doe-like eyes question him "What?"

"Nothing." He replies. _His heart beats erratically._

It's a comfortable silence in the next moments that follow. She strolls beside him, pointing out shops and foreign delicacies being sold in the festival, talking about the fireworks that would follow after dusk. He can't bring himself to ask her, _why,_ why did she follow him. She talks animatedly about anything and everything but her. He feels compelled to ask. Since he knows she already has a rather rough idea about a knight's life. He feels like he doesn't know _too_ much about her and she knows a bit _too_ much about him. He scans his parameters to look for a shop that sells accessories and walks a few steps ahead of her because the situation has just turned awkward. He doesn't understand if she's clueless or not because after a scoff, she follows and soon matches his footsteps.

"Where to next?" she asks, as her fingers brush off imaginary dust from her dress.

"I want to buy some hair clips for my mother." He answers, his nose still stuck up in the air, but his voice mellow and shy. In his defense, Sasuke decides it is only because he wanted this to be over and done with and he could use her help. Sakura smiles, "You should have said so, silly."

_**scene II: life changing echoes** _

She tugs his hand and weaves their fingers together as she guides him northwards where the number of twinkling fairy lights expands on his peripheral vision and the air smells much sweeter. The women shopping sector, he realizes. They pass a few shops in which he sees hairclips being sold, but Sakura doesn't stop. She pulls along and when she feels his eyes linger on the other shops she turns around and assures him, "Don't worry. I know the best shop for jewels at this fair. I'll take you there, wait." A pleasant smile succeeds and so does an arrow to his already captivated heart.

The stop in front of a shop which surprisingly doesn't have many lights and sparkles surrounding it. It's a shop towards the back end of the festival grounds, and is only filled with a handful of customers. Sakura lets go of his hand, takes away the warmth, and asks him to follow.

"Hello, Anko!" Sakura's voice drips with cheeriness and familiarity as she greets the woman inside the stall. The woman looks up, as she clears the counter and puts the money in a small pouch on the back table and a smile crosses her middle-aged face. "Hello Sakura, it has certainly been a while." her voice is sharp and deep but there's an underlying warmth in her voice, Sasuke notices. Sakura smiles, that infectious smile and Anko laughs at her as if an unseen antic is shared between them. Sasuke tries to think this, of him, being nonexistent, especially to the girl who pulled him here, does not bother him one bit. _Definitely._

It's a weird feeling really. To see an unknown woman chatter with her supposed friend while he stands there, behind her, and his eyes linger on the small circle pattern on the back of their dress. _Was she from a clan?_ His mind can't put a finger on which clan it might be, but he soon brushes it off thinking she might very well be from a lesser known clan from the other neighboring countries.

"Sasuke?!" Sakura suddenly turns, and if Sasuke had not leaned his head back a little she might have poked his chin with her hairpin.

He startled for a bit, as she again flashes him a smile. "Which design do you want?" she wiggles her eyes at him, and Sasuke has to keep his calm because his heart is in his throat beating erratically. _What was she doing?_

"Choose what you like." He grumbles as he turns his head away, as his ears warm.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tbc.  
> a/n: Thankyou for all the love! I f you have any questions you can drop by on twitter or shoot me stuff at my if you want :)


	4. silence of our hearts

**Act iv**

_**scene I**_ **:** _**hair is jewelry.**_

Sakura comes to choose a hair clip adorned with sparkling blue stones that catch the sunlight in front of his eyes. The hair accessory looks heavy, and expensive too, however none of it would matter if his mother did not like his gift.

He clenches his fist. _Just how much could he rely on this witch's taste?_ He'll see.

He pays Anko a hefty amount for the clip which the sly woman takes and recounts the Ryo in delight. Sakura still fumbles with the hair clips, her long slender finger every so often brushing by a particular ruby red one, which had smaller stones than the rest displayed on Anko's stall.

He wonders if he should tell her something, but his work here was over, he should head back soon.

His imagination, though, appears to take him to places where he dreams of buying this particular maiden the ruby stoned hair clip and tucking it softly in her subdued pink hair. He was going to gently part her hair, and just like he saw Itachi do it with Izumi, he was going to take a handful of those strands to clip it in…

Sasuke shakes his head as if trying to get rid of the mental image conjured by his thoughts. He was watching too much of Itachi and Izumi being inappropriate in public these days.

Sakura, realizing their current situation, suddenly retracts her hands from all those hair clips as Anko finishes counting.

"Let's go Sasuke-kun.'' She hands him the silver silk-wrapped clip, bids Anko farewell with a smile on her face; a smile that doesn't quite reach her eyes and starts walking ahead. Her hair catches the wind which suddenly picks up speed, implying an impending rain later during the day. Her hair was long, well maintained, messily tied by a single frayed red ribbon which looked like it was about to fall off any moment. Sasuke eyes the red hair clip lying on the wooden table amidst the various multicolored ones. Anko raises an eyebrow at his actions, and even if his heart doesn't want to, Sasuke just sighs and moves on.

_Maybe another time._

_**scene II**_ **:** _**stay awhile, and lose a mile.**_

Sakura's steps are small as she falls behind his back and Sasuke can't help but slow down so that he doesn't lose her in this crowd. Sakura doesn't say a word as the evening fast approaches, the festival livening up with all the lights and many more people joining in for the final entertainment of the day; the dance show. Sasuke means to ask if she is dancing today, but her forlorn expression makes his lips stick together on his own.

"Sakura?..." He holds her hand to stop her.

"Yes?" Her expression is soft, although it's faking a smile.

"Wait here, for me." He lets go of the hand, missing the warmth immediately as they lose contact.

He asks her to wait, by the peepal tree situated in the middle of the festival. Says he will come back.

 _ **scene III**_ **:** _**then she will either wait for him or forget him.**_

Sakura sits and watches lovers and families pass by. She wonders if her found family is looking for her at the moment. She has undoubtedly run away from her responsibilities and Tsunade might be losing her mind, perhaps she has given Ino a lot more trouble than she had promised for, but she does not want to return. Watching the sunset, she thinks she has a good half an hour before the show and she could just disappear from here, but he has told her to wait.

_Is he even going to return?_

In a solitary life as hers, she never thought she would find the warmth that comes with the feeling of being in love. When her hands found his, there was that inexpressible warmth in them that made her feel like her soul had dipped too close to the sun with no fear and she had felt a certain surge of happiness flowing in her veins.

Was she being practical when she thought she had fallen for him? _Certainly not._ Was love practical? _Certainly not._

Bells above start ringing like a prayer setting her heart afire. She rises up from the cold marble slab she was sitting on Sakura decides it's time to go. She had seen the last of it all, and now it was high time she came back to her senses to play her part, to do what she was born to do. She was foolish to think he was going to return; it was all a play to get rid of her. He was a knight and her, a foolish maiden.

_There was never a 'they'._

She fixes her dress for the evening and tightens her hair in the red ribbon that has been a part of her everyday life for a long while. Her beige-colored sandals are worn out and she mentally notes to buy some cheap sandals before they leave Konoha or else she would become a liability while they traveled to Suna.

One last lingering look at the direction the knight left with her heart in his hands, Sakura picks up her pace towards the heart of the festival, _her_ showground.

 _ **scene IV**_ **:** _**later is better than never**_

He returns to ghosts in her place. Sasuke looks around for a while but when he cannot find a single trace of that godforsaken pastel hair amidst the bland colors among the crowd, his hand clutches hard around the red glass stone which breaks under the pressure of his muscles with shards coming in contact with the blood that freely falls on the stone pathway.

_Silently._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tbc.
> 
> a/n: *drumrolls* that's it on today's episode folks. Again this is not geographically correct by any means, neither it is something you should take notes from. It's just a world I created that is not modern. The next update would definitely before the year ends but my midterms don't end till like the 20th so no promises about it.

**Author's Note:**

> first multichapter fic. I am not sure how I am going to pull this off, because well. anyhow believe me when I say I have tried to scrape off this idea from my head for a total of 5 times at least, but this bish won't let go. I am really bad with long updates, so please don't expect that from me. This fic will be a collection of scenes, with each chapter being an act.  
> Thankyou for reading! the support each and every one of you have given me is too much, and it literally lights up my day when I see someone actually reads what my brain vomited on this laptop ahshdjfk.


End file.
